Birds of a feather: Audubon's adventures in Edinburgh

This National Library of Scotland exhibition
looked at the experiences of 19th-century American wildlife artist
John James Audubon during visits to Scotland's capital. Ran from 4
July to 15 October 2006.

A volume of the world's most valuable books is the centrepiece
of the summer exhibition at the National Library of Scotland.

'Birds of a feather: Audubon's adventures in Edinburgh' looks at
the experiences of John James Audubon, regarded as one of the
greatest ever wildlife artists.

Birds of America

Without his first visit to the city in 1826, Audubon (1785-1851)
might never have been able to publish his world-famous book, 'Birds
of America'.

His Edinburgh encounters were crucial to the production of this
four-volume work. Containing more than 1,000 of his life-like
paintings, it created an important record of nearly 490 bird
species, some of which are now extinct.

Complete sets of the book are rare. One sold at auction in 2000
for $8.8 million.

50th anniversary

The exhibition's opening date is also the anniversary of the
opening of our George IV Bridge Building by the Queen in 1956.
Online, in 'George IV
Bridge celebrating 50 years', we are highlighting a
different item from the collections every week, each one
representing a year of collecting.